Transportation

Don Walker, CEO of auto parts manufacturer Magna International, takes issue with all the projections for a rapidly evolving electric car world over the next decade. Some forecast that EVs could grow to as much as 25% of the global market by 2025. He warned that the number will be dramatically lower. EVs, he predicted, […]

“A full autonomous vehicle is a long way off for lots of reasons, because of legislation, class-action lawsuits, all the complexities and the costs associated with it.” —– Don Walker, CEO of automotive parts manufacturer Magna International

A review of trends in the electric vehicle market from the International Monetary Fund found that, in the four years ending in 2015, the pace of growth in EV sales was 120%. Using the transition in the 20th century from horse-drawn carriages to fuel-powered vehicles as a benchmark to measure progress, the report found that […]

“We won’t allow any technology that takes away jobs. In a country where you have unemployment, you can’t have a technology that ends up taking people’s jobs.” —- Nitin Gadkari, India’s transport minister, explaining why his country will ban the adoption of autonomous (self-driving) vehicles

The world’s first self-driving ship will sail next year. A Norwegian container ship, the Yara Birkeland, will be the world’s first electric, autonomous, zero-emissions ship. With a capacity of up to 150 shipping containers, the battery-powered ship is expected to mark the beginning of a transformation of the global shipping industry. The ship is small compared to modern standards […]

1,600 new coal plants are planned or under construction in 62 countries, 700 of these in China. These new plants would expand the world’s coal-fired power capacity by 43%. The New York Times commented: “The frenzied addition of coal plants underscores how the world is set to remain dependent on coal for decades,” Chinese companies are […]

World crude oil consumption could peak as early as the end of the next decade as electric vehicles become more popular, according to Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO. Yet crude oil will still be needed for decades to come as it is likely to remain the main transportation fuel for planes, ships and heavy trucks. US crude […]

The US Energy Information Administration expects the US to become a net exporter of natural gas in 2017 for the first time since 1958. The prediction is based on declining pipeline imports from Canada, increased pipeline exports to Mexico, and greater liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Asia and Europe. By 2026, the EIA […]